Cat Power shares two more Bob Dylan covers
As she eyes the release of her live LP Cat Power Sings Dylan: the 1966 Royal Albert Hall Concert, American indie singer-songwriter Cat Power has shared her takes on two more Dylan songs, ‘Mr. Tambourine Man’ and ‘Like a Rolling Stone’.
Embracing the stripped-back folk style that Dylan was straddling between his desire to go electric at the time, Power’s rendition of ‘Mr. Tambourine Man’ features just her singular voice with an acoustic guitar. There’s no harmonica like in the original song, leaving much more space open for Power to let the song’s poetic lyrics resonate in the concert hall.
Much like Dylan himself, Power then feels the desire to embrace rock and roll with ‘Like a Rolling Stone’. Power also channels Dylan’s tendency to change the phrasing and melody lines of his own songs, letting ‘Like a Rolling Stone’ unfurl in a natural style without being completely tied to the original studio recording. Still, from the haunting organ lines to the joyous gospel piano, Power is clearly looking to honour the best-known version of ‘Like a Rolling Stone’.
As the album’s title implies, Cat Power Sings Dylan: the 1966 Royal Albert Hall Concert replicates what remains Dylan’s most infamous live performance. Although the audio was actually from the Manchester Free Trade Hall, the bootleg of Dylan’s “Judas” concert in 1966 England has become a cornerstone of his legacy. Power has taken the same setlist from that May 17th concert and performed it a solid 55-plus years later.
“More than the work of any other songwriter, Dylan’s songs have spoken to me and inspired me since I first began hearing them at five years old,” Cat Power, also known under her birth name Chan Marshall, explained in a statement.
Power is set to bring her Dylan set to Los Angeles, California, in November of 2023. From there, she has one more scheduled performance of the set at Carnegie Hall in New York City on Valentine’s Day, February 14th, 2024.
Check out ‘Mr. Tambourine Man’ and ‘Like a Rolling Stone’ down below. Cat Power Sings Dylan: the 1966 Royal Albert Hall Concert is set for a November 10th release.
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